Vietnam won the championship title with 14 gold, five silver and three bronze medals at the third Southeast Asian Pencak Silat tournament which took place from August 5-10 in the central province of Thanh Hoa .

At the final rounds, five gold medals were picked up by Nguyen Van Hoang, Nguyen Thai Linh and Bui Van Doan in the men’s 55 kg, 60 kg and 65 kg classes, and Bui Thi Phi Nga and Nguyen Thi Phuong Thuy in the women’s 50 kg and 65kg categories.

Malaysia ranked second with six gold, nine silver and five bronze medals, followed by Brunei with two golds, one silver and seven bronzes.

According to experts, the event provided a good opportunity for the Vietnamese team to prepare for the world’s Pencak Silat 2010 to be held in Indonesia by the end of this year.

The tournament attracted the participation of over 100 martial artists from Brunei , Malaysia , Singapore , Timor Leste and host Vietnam . The martial artists competed in 16 weight categories in both performance and combat events./.